When Patrick Mahomes crumpled to the turf late in the Chiefs’ December 14 loss to the Chargers, clutching his left knee with both hands, the silence in the stadium said it all. For a quarterback known as much for his resilience as his rocket arm, the sight was jarring. This is a guy who’s made a habit of playing through pain - whether it was a dislocated kneecap in Denver or a high-ankle sprain in the Super Bowl - and somehow always finding a way to finish the job.
But this time, it was different. This time, Mahomes couldn’t just shake it off and gut it out.
The damage - a torn ACL and LCL in his left knee - was real, and it was serious. And yet, true to form, Mahomes’ first instinct was to get back in the game.
“I asked if I could get a brace and finish,” he said last week, speaking publicly for the first time since the injury. “But they wouldn’t let me.”
That moment - Mahomes standing on the sideline, wanting to will his team back into playoff contention - tells you everything you need to know about his mindset. But it also sets the stage for the challenge ahead: balancing his relentless drive to return with the reality of a complex rehab process.
Mahomes underwent surgery in Dallas just a day after the injury. Since then, his focus has shifted entirely to recovery - and to a goal that feels very on-brand: being ready, without restrictions, for Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season.
“It’s hard, but at the same time you’ve got to kind of flip the script fast,” he said. “Now it’s just been motivating, trying to push myself … as much as they’ll let me push myself.”
That last part - as much as they’ll let me - is key. Because Mahomes isn’t just a competitor; he’s a relentless one. And that means the Chiefs’ medical staff, led by VP of sports medicine and performance Rick Burkholder, assistant athletic trainer Julie Frymer, and longtime personal trainer Bobby Stroupe, have the unenviable task of holding him back - even when he’s trying to sprint forward.
“They hold me back, because I always want to go a little further,” Mahomes admitted. “Dr.
Cooper [his surgeon] told me, ‘I’ll give you the limits of where you can push it to, and then it’s up to you how far you want to push it to that limit.’ Knowing me, I’m going to push it to that exact limit every single day.”
That’s the tightrope Mahomes is walking: pushing to the edge without going over it. And he knows it.
“Yeah, for sure,” he said when asked if he’s conscious of balancing short-term goals with long-term health. “That’s something I have to think of.
I think the coaches, the organization all have to think of. But that’s why they give me limits.”
There are days when the grind of rehab gets to him - days when he just wants to get through it. But Frymer doesn’t let him coast.
She pushes him. And most of the time, Mahomes is the one needing to be reined in, not revved up.
That approach - giving him just enough leash to feel like he’s progressing, without risking a setback - is as much about mental strength as it is physical. And Mahomes seems to have both in spades.
He also knows things could’ve been worse. The injury, while serious, was clean enough to allow for immediate surgery. And in the world of knee injuries, that’s a small but significant blessing.
“As bad as it was, it was as clean as it could be,” Mahomes said. “I found out there’s a lot of little things that can happen around that knee that I’ve never even known. So, I was lucky … God blessed me enough to not do some of the things that could prolong the injury.”
In the meantime, Mahomes is staying active in other ways - working on his upper body, core strength, and shoulders. And if there’s a silver lining to all this, it’s that the rest of his body - which has taken a beating over the years - is finally getting a chance to heal.
It’s been five years since his last surgery, a turf toe procedure following the 2020 season. That one flew under the radar a bit, but it was no walk in the park. Mahomes was still in a walking boot two months later, and his ability to move - to scramble, to extend plays - was very much in question.
And yet, when he returned that fall, he looked like Mahomes again. In fact, he posted six of the top 15 quarterback ratings of his career that season.
The Chiefs averaged over 30 points per game in their first six outings. And they dropped 42 in back-to-back playoff wins before falling to the Bengals in a tough AFC Championship Game.
That recovery showed Mahomes can handle the long road back. This one’s different - a knee, not a toe - but the blueprint is there. And based on everything we’ve heard, he’s following it to a tee.
“We have to let it all play out and take it a day at a time,” Mahomes said. “Which has been hard for me. But at the same time, it makes me get the best out of every single day.”
That’s the Mahomes we’ve come to expect - the guy who turns setbacks into fuel. The guy who doesn’t just want to come back, but wants to come back better. And if history is any indication, he just might.